DNA vaccine to protect against more virulent

‘uncommon cold’

A DNA-based vaccine developed by US and Chinese researchers has proven effective in protecting mice models against the adenovirus infection that causes severe “uncommon cold.”

Adenovirus type-3 is known as the “uncommon cold” because its symptoms – runny nose, sore throat, cough and fever – are eerily similar to those of the common cold which is caused by the rhinovirus.

But unlike the common cold, its symptoms are typically much more severe and can even be fatal.

Adenovirus outbreaks are difficult to control because the virus can live for weeks on environmental surfaces and spreads quickly through direct contact, aerosols and contaminated drinking water.

Adenovirus-3 thrives in places with dense urban populations and has recently become prevalent in southern China and neighbouring countries. It may also affect other populated places like schools, health care facilities and military bases in the US.

Researchers from George Mason University (GMU) in the US, University of Hong Kong, Guangzhou Children’s Hospital, South China Institute of Technology and Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed the vaccine.

“Further study is required, but we hope that in the future, this simple, stable and inexpensive vaccine can be mass-produced and made available to susceptible populations,” a GMU release cited GMU associate professor Donald Seto, the only US-based researcher in the study, as saying.

Their findings will appear in the February 18 edition of the Vaccine.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

Vascular drug improves learning, memory in

ageing rats

A drug used in treating vascular problems also improves spatial learning and working memory in middle-aged rats, according to a team of psychologists, geneticists and neuroscientists.

The finding supports the scientific quest for a substance that could treat progressive cognitive (brain related) impairment, cushion the cognitive impact of normal ageing, or even enhance learning and memory throughout the life span.

The drug Fasudil, has been used for more than 10 years to treat vascular problems in the brain, often helping with recovery from stroke.

Researchers injected hydroxyfasudil, the active form of Fasudil, into middle-aged (17-18 months old) male rats daily starting four days before behavioural testing and continuing throughout testing. Injection made it easy to give the drug to rats, but people take it in pill form.

Rats were tested on the water radial-arm maze, which assessed how well they remembered which of the radiating arms had a reward, a sign of accurate spatial learning and working memory.

Rats given a high dose of hydroxyfasudil successfully remembered more items of information than those given a low dose. Both dosed groups performed significantly better than control-group rats given saline solution.

On this same test, the high-dose group showed the best learning (fewest total errors) and best working memory (measured two different ways).

For every test of learning, the scores of the low-dose group fell between the scores of the no-dose and high-dose groups, meaning that learning and memory boosts depended on the size of the dose.

Hydroxyfasudil’s parent drug, Fasudil, is known to protect the brain by dilating blood vessels when blood flow is curtailed, said a release of the American Psychological Association (APA).

The finding will appear in the February issue of Behavioural Neuroscience, published by the APA.